Refusing to have hair washed?

RA1109

My DS is 2.5 and HATES to have his hair washed.  He screams like he's being killed, and has since he was born.  We've tried everything...rewarding him, making no big deal out of it, telling him to look up at the ceiling...it doesn't matter, the second one drop of water hits his head he starts flailing his arms, screaming and crying.  It's gotten to the point where he refuses to get in the bathtub and doesn't want to go in the bathroom, so we now only wash his hair maybe once a month because if we did it more often, he'd refuse to take a bath at all.  Each time it's like a MAJOR meltdown.  He also doesn't like to get water on his face anywhere else, including the pool, the splash park, etc, so it's not just the bathtub.  He's never had a traumatic experience, he's always been like this, it just seems to be getting worse.

Anyone have any ideas that work?  Desensitization has been a huge fail.

aldoussnow

My DS is the same exact way.  He hates water in his eyes, no clue why.  We've added a lot of bath incentives.  Once he gets finished washing up we play.  (I also have to immeddiately wipe his face dry with a towel). We blow bubbles, I have these fizzy tub color things that change the color of the bath water, bath crayons, LOTS of toys,  etc.  This has worked wonders for us.

ebb7

I think this is a phase all kids go through. We had 2 things that worked for us. One was a bath visor like this:

 https://tinyurl.com/7ob4hut

Another was one of those shampoo cups with the flat side that goes up against the forehead.

 https://www.amazon.com/Kids-Shampoo-Rinse-Cup-SRC44/dp/B001GI4FXI/ref=sr_1_1?s=baby-products&ie=UTF8&qid=1334937035&sr=1-1

I think once your DS realizes that there are ways to keep the water out of his face, he'll get a lot better about it.  

 

mrs.mastro

Have you ever tried the shower?  DH started taking DS in the shower once in a while a few months ago just for the time convenience.  DS loved it so much and didn't mind the water on his face or head.  (He HATED hair washing in the tub before this.)  DS is kind of over the shower novelty now and prefers a bath, but he is much better about hair washing even in the tub.

Polofsky

My DD is this way. I don't know if it will work for yours but I gave her a washcloth and showed her how to cover her eyes with it and that seems to have fixed the problem for us. Sometimes she sqeezes it really hard up against her eyes and sometimes its enough for her to just have one in her hands and she wipes her face a few times...but it's like it gives her a feeling of control and she doesn't really fuss anymore. We also have to sing the "ABC" song while we wash her hair so she knows how long it will last.